Giovanni Malagò's Vision for Italian Football: A New Era Begins

Giovanni Malagò has a new office and an old problem: how to fix Italy.

Elected as the new FIGC President with almost 69% of the votes, Malagò walks into Coverciano with a clear mandate and very little time for a gentle introduction. The Azzurri need rebuilding, belief needs restoring, and the federation must sketch out a long-term plan that goes beyond the next qualifying cycle.

This is not a cosmetic job. It is open-heart surgery on the national game.

Malagò’s first test: who leads the Azzurri?

Malagò’s to‑do list is already stacked. At the top sit two decisions that will define his presidency from day one: the appointment of a new head coach and a new technical director for the national team.

These are not just names on an org chart. They are the twin pillars of the project he wants to sell to a country that has grown wary of promises and slogans. The coach will shape the team on the pitch; the technical director will shape the culture, the pathways, the identity.

And one name, more than any other, has jolted the conversation.

Maldini, the legend back in the frame

According to Gazzetta and Corriere della Sera, Paolo Maldini has already been contacted about the possibility of becoming the Azzurri’s technical director. Just a whisper of his name in this context is enough to change the temperature of the debate.

Maldini is not just a former defender. He is the former captain, the face of an era, a symbol of Italian football’s highest standards. From San Siro to World Cups, his career carried a weight that still resonates in every dressing room he walks into.

His more recent spell as a football executive at AC Milan showed another side: the strategist, the builder, the man who can sit in a boardroom and argue for a vision, not just a signing. That blend of authority, experience and modern thinking is precisely what makes him such a compelling candidate for a leadership role with the national team.

The idea is simple, and powerful: hand Maldini the keys to the technical project and ask him to help design Italy’s future.

A new axis of power

Malagò and Maldini. One comes from the world of sports governance, already a central figure as President of the Organising Committee for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The other is a football icon, steeped in the game’s traditions but unafraid of its new realities.

If talks progress, their partnership could define the next decade of Italian football. The FIGC President will set the political and structural framework; the technical director, should Maldini accept, would be tasked with turning that framework into a coherent footballing identity.

Rebuild the national team. Restore confidence. Lay the foundations for future success. Those are the mission statements around Malagò’s election. They sound straightforward. Living up to them will be anything but.

Yet with a strong mandate from the vote and the possibility of Maldini stepping into a central role, Italy suddenly stands at a crossroads that feels less like a routine reshuffle and more like the start of a new era.

The next appointment on the FIGC letterhead will tell the world which road they intend to take.